Allocation of tickets unfair

As the voice of the students, the IDS Editorial Board saw it as our duty to express our sentiments concerning the reduction of men's basketball season tickets from 10 to six or seven -- and that is one of frustration. While it is understandable, and even commendable, that the athletic department is making an effort to assure every student gets a chance to view the national runners-up, they should have done more. The ticket office should have made sure every student got to see the number of games promised when our tickets were purchased.\nThe students are the most vocal and loyal fans in Assembly Hall on game day. Thousands upon thousands of seats are filled with red and white, even cream and crimson, and we should be rewarded for it. Efforts should have been made to accommodate the numbers of students who wanted to watch the Hoosiers play, and that simply wasn't done in the proper manner. So the question arises: How do you please the student body? Easy. Appreciate us as much as we appreciate you.\nAllow more seating than the 7,800 that has been reserved in the past. We understand that IU generously allows every student the opportunity to see our team play, something that is rare -- if not unique -- in the Big Ten. But the department knew there would be more requests for tickets by looking back at previous years that followed a successful basketball season. Every year after a successful season, the number of ticket requests have increased. Why couldn't the ticket office use those figures to accommodate?\nThey should have accommodated us by allowing students to sit in the general public area. We realize this might have cost the department money in the reduction of general public seating, but students should be priority No. 1. It's insulting to force a student ticket holder, who pays thousands of dollars in tuition to be a Hoosier, to sit in the balcony and only view six or seven games while "Joe General Public," who has never attended one class at IU, views every game from the floor. \nThe other option is make the Oct. 15 deadline to purchase tickets just that -- a deadline. This is another instance of the athletic department being generous to the student body. If someone couldn't get his or her order form in before the deadline, then that's too bad. Sorry they're slackers, but don't punish the true fans who turned in their $115 on the first day. There was more than enough time to get everyone's order form in, so the athletic department should have just said, "Sorry, but you missed the deadline."\nNow we lie in limbo wondering if we're going to receive six or seven games, if we get to take part in another Big Ten Championship, if we are going to get stuck with a match-up against UNC-Charlotte rather than Michigan State, and so on. We shouldn't have to wonder. We shouldn't receive a refund for tickets we already purchased. We should get those tickets and be sitting at courtside for every game with our Hoosier family. Instead, we're going to be watching it from our televisions at home. \n-- Ryan Gunterman for the Editorial Board